Pyongyang, April 7 (KCNA) -- The Japanese reactionaries have persisted in denying their past crimes and dodged their settlement.

Lurking behind their attitude is a black-hearted attempt to revive the past colonial rule, nostalgic about its days.

Rodong Sinmun Wednesday observes this in a signed commentary.

It goes on:

Recently a German court passed a life sentence on a former Nazi war criminal who killed civilians of Netherlands during the Second World War. However, the attitude of Japan, a war criminal state, stands out in sharp contrast to what Germany did.

More than half a century has passed since the end of the war but Japan has not even admitted the past aggression committed by the Japanese imperialists.

It is the calculation of the Japanese reactionaries that with the flow of time Japan's past crimes would be obscure in people's memory and no longer be a matter of argument in the end. Hence, they are running the whole gamut of sophism intended to go without the liquidation of its past crimes at any cost.

The monstrous crimes committed by the Japanese imperialists can neither be played down nor written off no matter how much water may flow under the bridge and no matter how frequently a generation is replaced by another. Japan's attempt to cover up its crimes would only render them graver and invite severer punishment.

Japan would be well advised to honestly reflect on its past crimes and settle them.